From hundreds to thousands to tens of thousands, Freaknik grew, but during its first decade, almost all white Atlantans—and many black Atlantans over the age of 40—were oblivious. Then came Freaknik 1993.

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Where Iberian Pig takes its inspiration from all of Spain, Cooks & Soldiers focuses on the Basque region, which gained an international profile during the craze over molecular gastronomy and its first exponent, Ferran Adrià of elBulli.

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Southbound magazine, the newest ancillary title from the publishers of Atlanta magazine, showcases the top travel destinations in the Southeast. We visit idyllic small towns and exciting cities in search of outstanding vacation opportunities.Inside Southbound

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Georgia offers diverse places to see and things to do, from the mountains in North Georgia to the coasts of Savannah and The Golden Isles. Take a tour in your own backyard and visit all that our great state has to offer. Begin your tour

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March 2015: The 90s

The 1990s were perhaps our city’s most transformative decade. A guide through the years, including Georgia’s changing politics, Bill Campbell, CNN’s groundbreaking war coverage, the Braves’ miracle season, Freaknik, and more.

Atlanta Derby Brats: Heck on Wheels

‘Little League’ for roller derby builds muscles and self-esteem

The little girl in roller skates and polka-dotted knee socks looks like a newborn giraffe, stumbling, wobbling, never really finding her footing as she tries to scoot around the track.

She trips over a speck of dust and drops to the floor in a clatter of kneepads and wristguards. Blushing, she looks around the rink, hoping no one has seen her tumble.

A more seasoned skater zooms up, then yells: “Good fall! You can’t learn and get better if you don’t fall! Now get back up!”

The girl smiles. And the next time she falls at this practice for the Atlanta Derby Brats in an echoing warehouse in Norcross, her cheeks don’t redden. She just gets right back up and keeps trying.

She’s a newcomer to the Atlanta Derby Brats, a roller derby league founded in 2010 that teaches girls aged seven to seventeen to skate, fall, block, hit, cannonball, pass, lap, and compete like the real Atlanta Rollergirls.

Derby Brats founder Angela Ward—who also founded the Atlanta Rollergirls and is known as “Tanya Hyde”—wanted to create a Little League-type program to secure the future of the Rollergirls program.

In doing so, she realized that the feeder team could also help girls build their self-esteem and their fitness while seeing that athletes come in all shapes and sizes.

The Brats are trained by seasoned Rollergirls like “Hate Ashbury,” also known as Michelle Brattain, and compete among themselves and on a traveling team. When they hit eighteen, they have to leave the Derby Brats, and they can’t try out for the Rollergirls until they’re twenty-one. In the interim, they can skate in a recreational league.

Chica Morgan’s daughter tried soccer, rock-climbing, and several other sports but never wanted to go back after the first day. Then she found roller derby.

“This has helped her self-esteem in a way that is awesome,” Morgan says. “She feels like she can play a sport and love it. They get to be badasses.”

Morgan’s daughter gave herself the derby name “Animaim.” Her best friend is “Crazy Horse,” another twelve-year-old Derby Brat from Decatur.

Crazy Horse’s little sister is ten, and skates under the name “Swamp Monkey.” On a recent Saturday she tried to hide in her mother’s car so that she could go to skating practice instead of to a school-friend’s birthday party.

“There’s a camaraderie here,” says Stacey Albright of Marietta, whose derby-loving daughters are known as “Hale Damage” and “Abilanche.”

“My girls would rather come skate with these girls than hang out with their friends from school,” Albright says. “They’re sisters.”